Cowgirl chic becomes city sleek with a dramatic change of hue.
Available at Pink Clouds.
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I just spent 20 minutes on the phone with Ugg Australia hammering them with questions about where they source their sheepskins and what standards they have in place for the ethical treatment of animals.
Why?
Because a dear, dear friend gave me a pair of Ugg boots for Christmas.
Yep, Uggs. Made from sheepskin. And as you all know by now, I don’t wear fur.
Since my friend knows I don’t wear fur, what was he thinking?
Well, being a guy, I think he knows that Uggs are a part of LA culture and, as an Ugg-lover himself (he literally wore out a pair of their slippers) he knows that even I can’t deny that they are comfy and cozy.
Plus he insisted that wearing Uggs is no different than wearing leather. Hmmm. Really?
I wanted to keep them — even if I only plan to wear them at home — but could I live with myself if I did?
If you’re gonna talk the talk then you better walk the walk, right?
So I Googled and sorted through the unsubstantiated and confusing claims about Uggs on the web until I found articles by respected journalists including the Wall Street Journal. I reached out to the company itself and to its American distributor to clarify and confirm what I needed to know to feel okay about wearing their product. I even digested an article about how kundalini yogis use sheepskins to enhance their meditation practices. Yes, yogis.
And it turns out my friend was right. If you wear leather, wearing a pair of Uggs is no different.
The sheepskins used to make Ugg boots are a by-product of the food industry. Just like leather.
Still, I try very, very hard to only buy vintage leather, so does this mean I should refuse this gift from my dear friend?
I must confess that I struggle so hard with this animal products in fashion issue. I’m a vegetarian, not a vegan, and there’s still an ongoing war that goes on inside of me because of that.
The intelligent, rational, evolved side of my brain says we don’t need animal products in our lives today. But there is something buried in my DNA that sees them and remembers how an animal hide kept my Cro-magnon sister from freezing. How learning to fashion and use tools and gadgets and products from animals fostered our evolution.
So while I hate that Hermes raises crocodiles to make handbags, I hate even more that seeing their craftsmanship makes me swoon. In a survival-of-the-fittest way, I’m proud to be part of the species that survived to fashion these items and yet I despise that my species still fashions these items in the 20th century and that some deep part of me can still view them as beautiful or useful.
So I struggle with whether to feature any more fur, feather, leather, snakeskin, alligator, crocodile, sharkskin, suede or coral items here at Zuburbia. And I wonder where to draw the line. I mean, according to PETA, 3,000 silk worms die to make a pound of silk, too. Cashmere production is creating major environmental problems.
If you look at the Buddhist idea of ahimsa (non-harm) does it mean we should give more weight to animals than to the good of the planet? Shouldn’t our overall footprint count more than each individual step? And what’s better? To purchase a new leather or vintage handbag today that will last another decade or a vegan version from a discount store that will far apart in six months?
What I learned from this Ugg experience is that these types of ethical dilemmas are very personal and very, very complicated. And while I believe that it’s fine to share our stories and our thinking, as I’m doing here, I don’t believe it’s right for me, or any of us, to judge anyone else for their personal choices. The more I learn the more I realize that moral, green, ethical decisions almost always involve some sort of trade-off and there usually isn’t one single answer that’s best for everyone.
That’s why each of us needs to honestly assess where we are in our individual personal development right now and make the choice that feels right for us right now. And if we want to change our choices in the future, we can. And we certainly will as our awareness and consciousness grows. As Oprah says, when you know better you do better.
And part of knowing better is actually knowing better. So I encourage everyone to reach out as I did and learn what you need to learn to make the best decisions for you. Get educated. Seek out answers to your questions. Then reconcile all the competing issues and voices and reach for that place of deep knowing in yourself that will tell you exactly what is right and best for you and your life now.
That’s why I’m going to accept my friend’s gift and will take a moment to pause, remember the sheep who have provided me this warmth and send out blessings to animals everywhere whenever I slip them on.
And that’s why (at least for now) I’ll continue to feature items like today’s VPOD, a rad pair of c. 1970 Edouard Jerrold suede boots.
Because any thoughtful, conscious fashion choice is the right choice for a Vintage Crusader!
Available at ilovetrash.
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While on my way to LAX on Friday to catch a flight to Santa Clara for the first Experts Industry Association Conference, I witnessed the most extraordinary sight.
As I braked for the stop sign at the intersection of Las Palmas and Barton, right in front of Barton Middle School, I witnessed a man doing the Snoopy Happy Dance.
There he was, in the middle of the afternoon, wearing his signature white earbuds, his eyes closed, his head turned to the sky, and his feet flappin’ and jivin’ just like Snoopy when he’s doing his famous Happy Dance.
I wish I’d been thinking and shot some video on my iPhone to share with all of you because this performance completely re-ignited my day!
It was so wonderful to see him expressing himself so freely and so fully in public.
How many of us are afraid to do that? How many of us hold ourselves back and refrain from expressing the pure joy of our souls because of “what people might think?”
Well, I’m people and I thought it was FANTASTIC!
Isn’t life meant to be lived with the full expression of all that we are?
And as I passed by and continued on my journey, I couldn’t help reflecting…
Who was feeling more alive in that moment—him or me?
Who was less concerned with the opinions of others—him or me?
Who was more fully expressing himself to the world—him or me?
So I dare you to join me right now in doing a little Happy Dance together.
That’s right—RIGHT NOW!
Wherever you’re reading this—airport, doctor’s office, kitchen table, cubicle—just drop what you’re doing and for 30 seconds, do your own little version of a Happy Dance.
For 30 seconds, put aside the concerns and cares that are weighing you down and just feel the joy of being alive. Feel your purpose in being here right now as part of humanity at this particular moment.
No music playing? Then just listen to the song in your soul and let its rhythm course through you until your feet can’t help but do a little tap dancing or break dancing or foot tapping of their own.
And if you’re still not feeling’ it then take a peek at today’s VPOD. These vintage 1940s suede and snakeskin pumps should make you jump for joy.
They’re a perfect Happy Dance choice for a Vintage Crusader!
Available at from VintageLoftNYC at 1stDibs.com.
(To receive the VPOD free via email with detailed size and price information, sign up for the growing email mailing list here. Your information will never be sold or shared and you can easily unsubscribe at any time.)
When we talk about someone who’s “on the fringe,” we’re referring to someone far out there near the very edge, on the periphery. Maybe they’re on the fringe of a personal breakthrough, on the fringe of stardom, on the fringe of madness, or on the fringe of a world-changing idea or scientific discovery.
But being on the fringe can be a very lonely, scary and uncomfortable place. By definition, “fringe” ideas—in science, art, fashion, education, politics, or anything else—have yet to be accepted by the masses.
And have you noticed that the good folks with the most innovative ideas, the inventors delivering technological disruptions that completely change our lives and the people that we like to call geniuses, all tend to live closer to the fringe than to 123 Main Street?
That’s why I like to pay attention to people on the fringe and what they’re talking about. Their wacky, crazy ideas often described as “out there” might seem to have no place in our current world but are often the very ideas that we all end up embracing years down the road.
It’s their ideas that often end up changing art. Or changing fashion. Or changing our lives.
And this season, loads of fashionistas have their attention on the fringe, too—but specifically the kind of fringe that you’ll find on today’s VPOD.
This vintage 1970s suede skirt is perfect for the ’70s revival vibe we’re seeing this fall.
And it’s a fab little fringe-y find for a Vintage Crusader!
Available at Time’s Up Vintage.
(To receive the VPOD free via email with detailed size and price information, sign up for the growing email mailing list here. Your information will never be sold or shared and you can easily unsubscribe at any time.)
I woke up this morning feeling like I was hit by a truck.
Oh, that’s right, I was.
Yesterday I was rear-ended on the 101 Freeway by a Chevy Trailblazer that pushed me straight into the Prius in front of me.
A car sandwich, let’s call it, with me and my Honda as the center fixings.
And when you realize you’re being hit, you know you can’t do anything but surrender to the moment, but you also don’t know what the outcome’s gonna be.
And that’s a little scary.
Fortunately, in this case, it all worked out okay.
I ended up with the worst of it and that’s just a nasty scar on my clavicle from the seat belt and minor aches and pains. Plus my car has a few boo-boo’s, too.
But I have to tell you, that feeling of complete awareness, of complete aliveness, that happens in the moment you’re being hit, well, it’s a real wake-up call to what’s important.
Or perhaps, I should say, to what’s not so important.
For instance, I promise that if you’re ever slammed by a pick-up truck you won’t care if you’re wearing the hottest brand of jeans.
And you’ll notice your handbag is going to careen into the dashboard whether it’s a Louis Vuitton or a $9.99 clearance special from Target.
And the moisturizer that costs you $295 a jar isn’t gonna protect your pretty cheekbones any better than the bargain brand if they hit the windshield.
Clearly and quickly, so many of the things that we obsess about and think matter get pushed into their proper perspective.
One of my mentors had a very serious accident while he was in college and discovered in his moment of pure awareness that you’re only gonna care about three things:
Did I live?
Did I love?
Did I matter?
The key is using minor accidents like this — what I think of as taps on the shoulder from the universe — to re-examine priorities and make sure the path you’re taking is the one you want to be on.
But don’t wait for the proverbial truck to hit you to start doing that!
You can stop worrying about silly things like labels and what’s in and what’s out and all that other nonsense right now.
Today’s VPOD, for instance, features a fabulous unlabeled suede and silk dress from Neiman Marcus. It’s just right for Fall for a gal who knows the label on the inside of her dress doesn’t make her look stylish. It’s the energy she brings to the world that makes her dress look stylish.
That’s the different perspective you have when you’re a vintage fashionista!
Available at Nicola Vicius.
(To receive the VPOD free via email with detailed size and price information, sign up for the growing email mailing list here. Your information will never be sold or shared and you can easily unsubscribe at any time.)
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